My Creative Life #15 - A Million Years Ago

I had a blog. Or at least it seems like that long ago ;) I could promise to be a better blogger but then I would just set everyone up for disappointment... hee.

Happy New Year! Since I didn't actually have a chance to say that 6 months ago. 

What in the world have I been up to? Well, I worked a bit, I drew a bit, I fell even more in love with my Beau, I cooked a lot and baked, studied some French (language and history), planned a trip to Europe, lived in Paris for a month, visited Belgium and Holland and got a canoe.

Home again, jiggity jig.

And one of the best things about being home in June... hummingbirds! I just love these little creatures. My thirsty, window pets. We seem to have a family which we have named Baron (red throat), Buzzy and Baby Buzzy (otherwise known as Zippy).

Exhibit One: The Hummingbird Feeder:

The feeder has large red, plastic "flowers" which the hummingbirds stick there needle beaks through to lap up the sugar water. They feed quite often since they exert so much energy in their rapid little wings. 

Last summer, the Beau and I were lounging on the deck having a nice conversation when what I thought was a huge bug landed on my chest. I quickly swatted it away while the Beau shrieked, "Careful, its a hummingbird!" It seemed to have mistaken me for its feeder:

Exhibit Two: The shirt I was wearing whilst under hummingbird attack:

I don't wear this shirt in the garden anymore.

My Creative Life #14 – Luvin Lemon

I really love lemon. I would actually choose a lemon cake over a chocolate one. Its just so fresh and happy and citrusy. And the smell of lemons are delightful. I drink a hot lemon and honey drink every morning too (has almost cured me of my coffee addiction).

I really thought lemons were the tops until walking through my local grocery store I discovered something even better. In tiny St. Marys, the town that makes Stratford look like a metropolis, I found a bag of fragrant, pretty, the perfect shade of "lemon" yellow... Meyer Lemons!

(Meyer Lemons are thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin).

And they are just as lovely as everyone raves about. 

I debated what to make with them and decided on a pound cake. This also gave me a chance to use the nifty rasp My Beau thoughtfully bought for me recently. It turned the peel into feathery, light zest that mixed beautifully into the batter. Oh how I love Lee Valley tools.

I couldn't bring myself to use 1/2 cup of olive oil but I should have accommodated for it because I would like a moister cake. Perhaps, more yogurt would do the trick. I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe as a base. Next time I will try blood oranges (sorry, Ang) or tangerines. 

Only caveat is when I eat the cake, I start to cough... hmmm, lemon allergy? (tres triste).

Now, what to do with my remaining 3 lemons? Any suggestions?

Meyer Lemon and Yogurt Pound Cake

• 1 cup sugar
  
• zest of 1 meyer lemon
  
• juice of 1 meyer lemon
  
• 1/2 cup yogurt (I would up it to 1 cup)
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
  
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1 1/2 cups flour
  
• 2 tsp baking soda
  
• pinch of salt (if you are daring add some rosemary!)

Preheat over 350 degrees and grease loaf pan.

Mix sugar, zest and juice in a bowl. Whisk in yogurt, eggs and vanilla. In another bowl mix dry ingredients. Add the dry to the wet ingredients and gently whisk. Fold in oil. 

Scrape into pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden, knife inserted will come out clean.

Add glaze to make it super-meyer lemony! Pour a mixture of juice from one lemon and 2 tbsp of sugar over the loaf while cooling in pan. 

My Creative Life #12 - The Perfect Brownie 3

More rotten bananas get eaten in this house than fresh ones. The poor boy wants to help me bake something and it always needs to revolve around bananas so I can get rid of them. I suppose I should try to eat more bananas but they really only have a few decent days in them. 

The perfect banana day for me is just past green, still a little crisp but slightly sweet without any graininess. As soon as there is a little brown, its over.

Our normal go to recipe is banana bread but I thought it would be best to combine my Beau's love of brownies with the bad bananas. And so into my existence grows the chocolate banana brownie!

Chocolate Banana Brownie

• 1/3 cup butter
  
• 6 oz chocolate
  
• 3/4 cup sugar 
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1/2 cup mashed banana
  
• 2 tsp vanilla
  
• 2/3 cup flour
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
  
• pinch salt
  

Preheat oven 350 degrees and grease 8x8 pan. 

Melt butter and stir in chocolate until liquid. In bowl, mix eggs, banana, vanilla and sugar. Stir in chocolate mixture. In separate bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet.

Scrape into pan and bake for 25 minutes, do not overbake. 

My Creative Life #11 - Naked Ladies

I figure that title alone will have my blog popping up on google searches everywhere. 

One of my Beau's clients is an artist and was kind enough to invite me to her weekly life drawing group. It is an intimate group of about half dozen artists who meet up and share a model for a two hour session. The session is held at one of the artist's beautiful heritage home in a cozy study with comfy chairs, classical music, and a wood fire burning. 

Being around experienced artists can be intimidating but I was comforted by the calm and quiet of the room and the focus of the group around me. Each person was there for their own study and there was no pressure or competition. 

When I was in college we would have a 4 hour life drawing class once a week. It was in a brightly lit room with 20 ambitious students shrouded by 20 paper clad easels. My instructor was an eccentric woman who was fascinated with anatomy and who was not opposed to picking up roadkill or carcasses from farmers if it meant she could pick the bones clean for further study (she was also amongst the few of my instructors who had been rumoured to be institutionalized for mental instability). 

The classes were cold, the models colder and the instruction and criticism unrelenting. Not to mention the other students constantly comparing and challenging each others drawing skills. It wasn't fun and killed my urge to draw for the joy of it. 

Yesterday's drawing group was small and quiet but being there amongst them filled me with a strange joy. It was tiring but it was fun. The home owner invited me back for next week and I'm already excited to join in again. Perhaps I can rediscover the joy that I always had for drawing. 

My Creative Life #10 - Souper Saturdays!

This being "sniffle" season I am spending even more time on Earth Clinic finding the magic elixer for all my ills. Since moving to the country I have become quite a hippy/witch doctor. I drink apple cider vinegar everyday... honey and lemon drinks to keep a cold away... grapefruit seed oil as an antibacterial and aloe vera as a pick me up. Somewhere between this and my continuing vegetarianism (four months and feeling peachy :) I have lost weight, cleared my complexion and cured my chronic sinus allergy.

The most magic cure-all is also the most delicious... soup!

Autumn Saturdays are super for soup. I have discovered that soup is much easier to make then one would expect. My basic soup recipe is to saute some onions, garlic and spices (depending on the type of soup). Throw in a few cups of root vegetables (and always a potato to thicken) cook them just enough to add some flavour. Add enough liquid (water, broth, wine, beer, juice) to cover and boil until soft. Puree the entire mess (to me this is the key). Add a cup of a creamy liquid (milk, evaporated milk, coconut milk) and beans or extras and simmer. Sometimes I add everything to my crock pot to simmer or just serve it right away. 

Using this formula I have made a classic potato soup, a carrot, apple and ginger soup and my new favourite, a squash, curry and lentil soup (a variation of bea's lovely soup). 

Soup is also a great way to make picky eaters eat vegetables... since it is really easy to lie about what's in it. For instance this soup was made with butternut squash (sounds icky to a ten year old) so when asked what was in it I said, potatoes and curry... only partly true but he ate it. Makes me feel so powerful.

Squash Curry Lentil Soup

• 1 butternut squash, cubed
  
• 1 potato, cubed
  
• 2 cups of cauliflower, chopped
  
• 1 small onion
  
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
  
• 1 tbsp cumin
  
• 2 tbsp curry
  
• 2 tbsp garam masala
  
• olive oil
  
• 5 cups of vegetable broth
  
• 1 can coconut milk
  
• 1 can lentils
  

In a large pot, saute onions in olive oil to soften. Add garlic and spices cook to release flavour but do not brown. Add vegetables and cook for 5 minutes. Add broth to cover vegetables bring to a boil turn down the heat to medium and let simmer for 20 minutes (until vegetables are soft). 

Lower the heat and using a hand blender puree to desired consistency. Add coconut milk (more water for a thinner soup) and lentils and simmer for one hour. 

Waterloo Nissan - Bad Customer Service

We live in a society that is no longer interested in good, basic, respectful customer service. There was a time when the customer was always right. There was a time when complaints were treated with respect and good purveyors earned respect by doing whatever they could to satisfy their customer's needs. You weren't put on hold, there were no emails to ignore and a business owner did not send you somewhere else so that they didn't have to deal with the complaint themselves. Even if there is nothing that can be done to satisfy the issue, they would at least go to great lengths (or even a few phone calls) to make sure that "absolutely nothing" could be done.

Unfortunately, companies don't seem to need word of mouth advertising as they once did. Now multi-million dollar advertising campaigns make sure that the brand sells itself. And if there are only limited businesses that sell the brand then you buy from them... regardless of the customer service. Nissan would make you believe that they make quality vehicles and so you would think that if there was a factory defect they would go out of their way to make sure that it was corrected. Nissan would also make you believe that any dealer that represents the Nissan brand would behave in a similar manner. Well, Nissan, its all make-belief. Some people by no fault of their own buy your defective vehicles and have to suffer through the condescending nature of your representatives to no avail. Ian Murdoch of Waterloo Nissan won't even answer an email complaint beyond a one word comment (perhaps he is busy with his Rotarian responsibilities).

I have rarely met a person who hasn't had issue with either Bell or Rogers but still subscribes to either of these companies' services because there is no other choice. They hope for the best and that they will never need to talk to Emily. Luckily, I live in a rural area that has its own telecommunications company (Quadro) and I am treated like a human being if I have an issue because an actual person answers the phone on the first ring! Real people feel accountable to real people.

It seems that corporations who feed millions of consumers just don't care if a small percentage are unhappy. And that small unhappy percentage if you ignore them long enough they will go away and eventually consume from another company who will eventually fail them again. 

It makes me never want to buy another product from a corporation. It makes me want to buy from local producers, not just what I eat but what I wear, use in my home and entertain myself with. It seems impossible right now but if companies continue to misrepresent themselves and ignore our complaints, more people will find other ways to fulfill their needs for material things, maybe go without many of them completely. Hey, I'm proof of an easy and enjoyable life without a cell phone or a tv (still working on the internet addiction :) 

And I'm seriously considering putting in my order for an Amish horse and buggy set.

My Creative Life #9 - Yo Yo Yogurt Loaf

Ahhh baking... it just makes me smile. I began baking when I was sucking bad in college. I was supposed to be a creative person but the work I did felt stale, I felt unproductive and robotic... anti-creative. Good ideas but less than adequate skills of execution. Things just didn't turn out the way that I expected. 

But baking was different. The results were almost always the same as my expectations. It made me happy and best of all it made other people happy. Even if the finished product isn't perfect, people always make the best of baked goods. It is just so fun to eat something that has been created by hand in the kitchen. 

A no-fail recipe is the ultimate in satisfaction. This yogurt loaf is one of those recipes. I have made it a few times and it always turns out well. Even when it is a little undercooked it is still tasty. The best thing about this recipe is I have discovered why my loaves always overcook... the outside edges burn while the centre is mushy. My oven is too hot!

This recipe suggests a lower temperature than most with a longer cooking time. The result is a perfectly browned loaf with a lovely moist inside. The yogurt makes it almost creamy to eat. It is also more "lite" than a traditional loaf due to more yogurt and less butter. Of course I use the super creamy hi-fat mediterranean style yogurt but the original recipe admits that a lighter yogurt is fine. I used alternative sweeteners since I am trying to avoid refined sugar. I have also made this as a raspberry, white chocolate and lime loaf. My next will involve blueberry and orange! Date and orange with walnuts would be nice too... ohhh, peach, pecan and blueberry... endless variations.

This particular loaf was made for a lovely lunch at a friend's home on Saturday hence the space-aged wrapping job.

Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf

• 2 cups flour
  
• 2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 cup butter softened
  
• 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
  
• 1/4 cup honey
  
• 4 egg whites
  
• 1/2 cup yogurt
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
  
• 1 cup blueberries
  

Optional glaze for super lemony loaf:

• 3 tbsp lemon juice
  
• 3 tbsp sugar
  

Heat oven to 325˚ and butter loaf pan. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar. Beat in the egg whites, yogurt, vanilla and lemon juice until well blended. Add flour mixture until just blended. Fold in blueberries. Spread into loaf pan and bake for 70 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan to cool completely. Dissolve sugar into lemon juice, poke holes in loaf and pour glaze over top.